New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday addressed the nation with his monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’. During his half an hour speech, he congratulated Sakshi Malik, PV Sindhu , Dipa Karmakar and other athletes who participated in the Rio Olympics. Emphasizing on the need to promote sports in India, Prime Minister Modi said that the nation must give importance to sports and extra- curricular activities as well and not only to studies.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also lauded the efforts of women athletes at the Rio Olympics. ‘The two medals we got were bagged by the daughters of this nation. There were other girls who almost made it and performed well. Once again they proved that they are no lesser than anyone else in any manner’, PM Modi said.

In his radio talk, PM Modi urged the parents to encourage their progeny to play sports too rather than put all their focus on studies.Praising the Indian men's hockey team, he said the winning team Argentina lost only to the Indian team. Saying that country had to do a lot and that the central government had already formed a committee to take necessary steps for improving performances in future, PM Modi also urged states to focus on at least two sports of their choices.

"The times to come are good but it would only be possible when we change our attitude and the way we had been working so far," he said. He also asked the people to change their mentality and allow their children to pursue sports."We are preparing our children for jobs and most of us see sports as a waste of time. Its time to change the mentality," PM Modi said.

Shows Concern Over Environmental Pollution

PM Narendra Modi while addressing the nation through 23rd edition of his Mann Ki Baat showed concern over the increasing environmental pollution during festivals.

PM Modi said that a lot of people are writing about Ganesh Chaturthi & Durga Puja vis-a-vis the environment showing their concern over pollution.While promoting eco-friendly Ganesh Utsav, PM Modi urged people to make Ganesh idols out of clay and not Plaster of Paris.

PM Modi also spoke about My Clean India campaign. ''Students of 1,700 schools wrote to their parents urging them to construct toilets in their homes, in Chhattisgarh'', said PM Modi.

He also spoke about a 16-year-old girl who launched Satyagraha, gave up food, demanding a toilet in her home in Karnataka. ''When this came to the knowledge of the village head, he arranged Rs 18K and got a toilet constructed in 7 days'', he added.

PM Modi also praised those who actively participated in Clean Ganga drive and took oath to keep river Ganga clean.

PM Narendra Modi also talked about Teachers Day which is celebrated on 5th of September every year to mark the birth anniversary of Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. He stressed on importance of a teacher in a person's life and said, "Teachers are as important as mothers in our lives. They spend their lives caring for their students".

He further mentioned about his own teacher who keeps giving him advice and guidance till date. "My teacher is 90 years old now and his feedback is very important to me. Even how he writes to me assessing my performances as a Prime Minister," PM Modi said.

He also made a funny remark by saying, "My handwriting is not that good. I have immense respect for people with good handwriting”